BUCHAREST – People with disabilities have protested outside Romania’s labor ministry against a measure they say could leave them jobless.

About 200 protesters — some in wheelchairs, others with crutches — carried banners Tuesday in Bucharest saying “We want to work, not beg!”

They were angry at a government emergency decree that means companies with more than 50 employees no longer have to hire a certain number of disabled people or to use a department that hires special-needs personnel.

It is scheduled to take effect Sept. 1.

A woman passes in her wheelchair by the Labour Ministry in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2017, during a protest by disabled people that she was not attending. Photo: AP/Vadim Ghirda

A federation that represents non-governmental social services said the decree could lead to 2,000 people with disabilities losing their jobs.

A statement said, “We refuse to be considered invisible and unimportant and to … obey decrees that can change our lives with a single signature.”